'Dr Yorulmaz has produced in this study a first-rate example of the skilful combination of meticulous historical research based on extensive primary documentation in Ottoman Turkish and German with cross-disciplinary analytical rigour combining the latest developments in the fields of development studies, international affairs and comparative diplomatic history and quantitative history based on solid economic data gleaned from archival sources. Though the work concentrates on the personalities of state rulers and their representatives acting at various levels of the state's bureaucratic and diplomatic apparatus, it takes our understanding of historical causation far beyond the level offered by standard historical biography. The work is thus innovative and ground-breaking in research terms while at the same time providing new methodological insights into the study of history "from the top down". Dr Yorulmaz's work will appeal broadly to historians working in a broad range of fields including the comparative study foreign policy, global politics and the art of diplomacy. It is thoroughly researched, provides new factual and statistical material for future study and above all else offers important revisionist insights into state behaviour and the actors participating in great state/ great power rivalry in the decades leading up to the outbreak of the First World War.' Rhoads Murphey, Department of History, University of Birmingham 'Based on a comprehensive reading of Ottoman and German archival sources, Yorulmaz provides fresh and deep analysis of the workings of the arms trade in the Ottoman Empire as an integral part of German strategy starting with Bismarck. Any study of German-Ottoman relations will need to take this work into account. This is scholarship at its finest.' Professor Jonathan Grant, Florida State University